


brave face talk so lightly

by lesbiyawn



Category: Captain Marvel (2019)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Pre-Relationship, just some cute domestic lesbians feat. a protective carol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-31
Updated: 2019-05-31
Packaged: 2020-03-30 21:11:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19035664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lesbiyawn/pseuds/lesbiyawn
Summary: Carol is stubborn. Carol is hot-headed. Carol can’t help it if some people deserve a just beating.Maria knows this. It’s why sheloves Carolcalls Carol her best friend.





	brave face talk so lightly

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Sick of Losing Soulmates by dodie! 
> 
> I absolutely adore these two but it’s my first time writing them so it might not be perfectly in character? I tried - with practice will come perfection. 
> 
> Also the timeline of this all might be a bit...messy? Just suspend your disbelief and enjoy some lesbians.

Maria huffs as she grabs a beer from the freezer, handing it to the seated Carol. She was sitting on the counter, refusing to sit normally. Maria knew Carol relished in any chance to break conformity, something she thought was odd for someone joining the military.  

Carol takes it from her with a quirked eyebrow. 

“It’s not for you to drink, dumbass.” She points at the splotch of black and blue darkening Carol’s right eye. “It’s for your shiner.” 

Carol frowns in realization and places the bottle against her eye, hissing when the cold bottle touches her bruised skin. “Thanks.” 

Maria would love to laugh at the woman before her. Carol’s frown was always so exaggerated, made her seem so childish. She wanted to poke fun at her, chide her for being so hot-headed. She thought Carol had started to grow out of her brawling phase. 

But there was something _off_. 

Something that made a little alarm in Maria’s brain go off. 

Usually Carol would boast to her about the fight she had won - or lost, even (Carol could be a surprisingly good sport). They were usually small scuffles over a bet or light teasing. Sometimes the men would prod them, goad them into doing something stupid so she and Carol would be kicked out. Maria would restrain her and Carol would realize she was being rash. 

But even when Carol was fed up with the other pilots’ misogyny she never came to her with a black eye. And she certainly was never so quiet and resigned. 

Maria wanted to lighten the mood but she also wanted to get to the bottom of this. So she tried killing two birds with one stone. 

“You got your ass handed to you, that why you’re so quiet?” She places one hand on her hip, the other on the counter as she tries to meet Carol’s eyes. “You can tell me, I’ll only laugh a little.” 

_That_ doesn’t even get a smile out of Carol. Instead, the woman only looks down at the floor and sighs.  

 “Carol.” 

At the sound of her name - or maybe at Maria’s tone - Carol finally meets her gaze.

“Talk to me, please?” Maria frowns. “You’re starting to worry me.” 

“I didn’t get my ass handed to me. I won.” Carol says, no hint of pride or satisfaction. There’s no gloating, no comical “you should see the other guy.” This isn’t her Carol and Maria doesn’t like it one bit.

 “So then why are you acting so defeated?” Maria’s frown deepens and she leans in. “Are you in trouble with the higher-ups?” 

Carol shakes her head, readjusting the beer. “No. The punk wouldn’t dare tell them I was the one who decked him into last week.” 

“Are you sure? You have far more enemies than friends, Carol.” Maria reminds her, watching as she looks back down at the floor like a scolded child. “Who is this ‘punk’ anyway?”

“I don’t know, some first year.” Carol looks back up at her, showing the first semblance of a smile. “Didn’t catch his name. Did call for his mommy, though.” 

 “Carol.” She tsks, seeing the tiny smile drop from Carol’s face once more. “Why were you beating on a first year?”

Carol meets her with a shrug. 

Maria sighs and rolls her eyes. “Carol. Really?” She let the annoyance slip into her tone. “Drunkenly starting a bar brawl is one thing. Picking a fight with some fresh cadet is another. You’re not a foolhardy teenager anymore, you can’t expect to get away with this.” 

“The kid’s not gonna say a word, I know it.” Carol answers back with a bite of her own. She was still avoiding the question. 

“This isn’t about him tattling.” She crosses her arms, staring down Carol. “It’s about you jeopardizing your future over something stupid.” 

She can tell her words strike a nerve as she feels the anger practically radiate off Carol. 

She doesn’t back down from Maria’s stare, adopting furrowed brows and a frown of her own. 

“It _wasn’t_ over something stupid. Far from it.” 

“There’s very little that’s worth getting a black eye over, _Carol_.”  

“Well this was, _Maria_.” 

Maria huffs. “Don’t try that tone with me, Carol Danvers. You’re the one that deserves a reprimand here.” 

Carol looks like she’s ready to pick another fight. She’s opening her mouth but Maria watches her eyes drop to her stomach and it quickly shuts. Instead of the slew of curses Maria is expecting, Carol’s shoulders slump as she lets out a heavy sigh. 

“What?” Maria asks. “What is it?” 

“Nothing.” Carol says. “No point in arguing.”

Maria laughs humorously. “You’re really saying that?” 

“Look, I’m tired and sore and done with fighting for the day. Can we just. . .” Carol closes her eyes and breathes out her nose. 

“No, Carol, we can’t.” 

Carol’s eyes fly open in surprise as she looks back at Maria. 

“What-”

“You’re worrying me.” Maria says, reaching out to grab Carol’s free hand. They both stare as they lace their fingers together, distracted by the sudden and intimate contact. “Please don’t hide things from me. We promised we’d never hide things from each other.”

“I. . .” Carol looks at Maria and she can finally see the storm raging on behind those eyes. “You’re right. I was brash and immature and should’ve known better.” 

Carol pauses but Maria knows she is far from finished. 

“But I had my reasons and they were good reasons.” Seeing the expectancy in Maria’s face, she continues. “It wasn’t pride or anything like that. I’ve grown up, whether you think I have or not. I wasn’t tying to pick a fight.” 

Carol looks to Maria’s stomach again. “The asshole started making comments about you. Calling you names. Talking about you. . .and the baby like he has any right.” 

“Oh.” 

Carol nods. “Yeah. I shouldn’t have, I know. But I just. .  .” She clenches her fist, squeezing Maria’s hand in the process. “I couldn’t stand to hear his mouth running anymore.” 

A silence falls between them, neither of them sure where to pick up or what to say. 

Finally, Maria breaks it: “So you got a couple of good punches in?”

Carol looks at her surprised before she breaks out into a grin. 

“Oh you know it, baby.” She puts the beer bottle on the counter and points to her eye with her now free hand. “This is just a little souvenir I got for myself. But him? Let’s just say he won’t be feeling manly for quite some time.” 

Maria laughs and bumps her shoulder. “You’re so bad.” 

“Eh, I could’ve been worse. After his fifth time begging for his mom I knew I had to throw in the towel.” Carol’s grin widens. “‘ _Mommy, please! Mommy help_!’ Pathetic.” 

Maria laughs at the nasally voice Carol adopted. “Did he really sound like that?” 

Carol shrugged and tapped her chin. “Hard to tell. It might’ve just been the broken nose.” 

Maria laughs again, despite herself. “You better not teach our baby how to fight. I only want to use bandaids for scraped knees and paper cuts.” 

Maria only realizes what she’s said when she sees the look of shock on Carol’s face. Her eyebrows are practically at her hairline and her lips form a comically perfect “o”. Maria _would_ find it hysterical if she wasn’t making the exact same face as soon as it dawns upon her. 

Maria clears her throat and darts her eyes away, finding the grain of the cabinets particularly interesting. She still feels Carol’s eyes boring into her. 

Even with their shared shock, Maria can’t find it in her to correct herself. She didn’t want to call it a slip of the tongue because it didn’t feel like one. 

The baby would be Carol’s, in a way. She had done more for her and the baby than the baby’s own father had. Calling Carol the baby’s second mom just felt _right_. 

She hears a pop and a fizz, looking up to see Carol had popped the lid of the beer and was currently taking a gulp. 

Maria felt like taking one herself. 

She wipes her lips and shrugs. “What? I needed a sip.” 

“I thought I told you that was for your eye.” 

“It’ll heal.” 

“Well when you’re hissing and squirming and don’t have anything cool to put on it, I don’t want to hear complaints.” 

“Oh yeah?” Carol taunts. “I know you’ve got a frozen rib eye in there. Maybe I’ll just use that.” 

“Don’t you dare.” She warns. “That’s for a stew I’m going to make. I’m not having it get all grimy and contaminated after touching you.” 

Carol throws her head back in a laugh. “I’m not that filthy! Besides, maybe you could make that your new secret ingredient.” 

And as they spend the rest of their night just like that, laughing as they trade insults back and forth and share the cold beer, Maria thinks that maybe, raising a kid with Carol is far from the worst thing in the world. 


End file.
